Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte announced Wednesday she will run for president of the Southeast Asian nation of 116 million in 2028.
Duterte, who is embroiled in a bitter feud with President Ferdinand Marcos, was impeached last year only to see the country’s Supreme Court throw the case out over procedural issues.
“I offer my life, my strength, and my future in the service of our nation,” she said Wednesday, while assailing Marcos’s record.
“I am Sara Duterte. I will run for president of the Philippines.”
The daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte accused Marcos of corruption in her brief speech, saying he had failed to live up to his word during the brief alliance that saw them storm to a landslide victory in the 2022 presidential election.
“In the first few months of our terms, I already saw Bongbong Marcos Jr.’s lack of sincerity regarding the promises made during the campaign, as well as his sworn duty to the nation,” the vice president said, using Marcos’s nickname.
The feud between the Duterte and Marcos clans, simmering within weeks of their election victory, exploded into public warfare in 2025.
Wednesday’s announcement comes just days before Rodrigo Duterte begins a pre-trial hearing at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands over crimes against humanity allegedly committed as part of brutal crackdowns on drug use.
The so-called confirmation of charges hearing, taking place over four days, will determine whether there is enough evidence against Duterte to proceed to a trial.
The younger Duterte has also seen an impeachment bid against her revived in recent weeks, with members of the Philippine clergy filing a case against her on February 9, one of three within days.
A pair of impeachment complaints against arch-foe Marcos were tossed out days earlier by the House of Representatives justice committee, which said the case lacked the necessary substance.
Under the Philippine constitution, an impeachment triggers a Senate trial. A guilty verdict would see Duterte barred from politics and sidelined from a potential 2028 presidential run.
But Marcos is facing his own headwinds, with the Southeast Asian country still roiling over a scandal involving bogus flood-control projects believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars.
Marcos has seen friend and foe alike, including a congressman cousin, swept up in the political firestorm since he first put the issue centre stage in a July national address.
